Silo construction



March 1967 J. T. M CARTHY ETAL. 3,307,311

7 SILO CONSTRUCTION Filed Sept. 11, 1963 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTORS Q Z/A/A 6 fill/3a BY TIOMASZZ Comm March 7, 1967 J MCCARTHY ETAL 3,307,311

SILO CONSTRUCTION Filed Sept. 11, 1963 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS 20/4 H fizz/so BY Twnms 602.24

1722!! I 64mm 3,307,311 SILO CONSTRUCTION John T. McCarthy, Thomas E. Curran and Zina H. Allison, Green Isle, Minn, assignors to T-Bar Steel Silo Co., Inc., Green Isle, Minn, a corporation of Minnesota Filed Sept. 11, 1963. Ser. No. 308,218 2 Claims. (Cl. 52245) This invention relates to an improvement in the construction of a silo structure in providing an expandable structure which may be readily heightened to provide greater storage capacity and in providing an unusually effective airtight wall construction to exclude any air leakage into the structure.

It is an object of this invention to provide a silo structure comprising plate members and airtight means removably connecting said plate members.

It is another object of this invention to provide a silo structure comprising longitudinally arcuate plate members having transverse stiffening ribs, means interlocking adjacent edge portions of said plate members and air sealing means in connection with said last mentioned means.

It is more specifically an object of this invention to provide a silo structure comprising an assembly of arcuate plate members, said plate members having stiffening ribs, rigid connecting members overlying adjacent edge portions of said plate members, sealing gaskets disposed between said edge portions of said plate members and the overlying portions of said connecting members, and means removably securing said connecting members to said plate members.

These and other objects and advantages of the invention will be fully set forth in the following description made in connection with the accompanying drawings in Which like reference characters refer to similar parts throughout the several views and in which:

FIG. 1 is a view in perspective of a silo structure embodying applicants invention;

I FIG. 2 is a fragmentary view in elevation on an enlarged scale showing details of construction, with some portions thereof being broken away;

FIG. 3 is a view in vertical section on enlarged scale taken on line 33 of FIG. 2 as indicated;

FIG. 4 is a view in elevation taken on line 4-4 of FIG. 3, as indicated, with a portion thereof being broken away;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary view on an enlarged scale in horizontal section taken on line 55 of FIG. 2 as indicated; and

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary view in vertical section taken on line 6-6 of FIG. 2 as indicated.

With reference to the drawings, the character 10 indicates a silo structure of conventional cylindrical form which embodies the applicants construction disclosed in some detail in FIGS. 2-6 and which disclosure represents a preferred embodiment of the applicants invention.

The silo structure 10 will be made up of the number of superposed cylindrical ring-like members which will be required to provide the silo capacity wanted. Said ring-like members are hereafter referred to as annular courses. In actual practice the silo structure will be erected by first assembling the, annular courses, overlying the first such course with a conventional roof structure 11 and then elevating the entire structure as successive bottom courses are inserted until a desired height is reached. Representative of said annular courses are indicated by the characters 1216. The invention herein has particularly to do with the structure of each course and the connection of said courses with one another. In Figs 2-6 are shown fragmentary views of construction 3,307,311 Patented Mar. 7, 1967 on an enlarged scale. Except as will be indicated hereinafter, said annular courses are of like construction.

Said annular courses 12-16 are respectively formed of plate members with representative of said plate members being indicated by the characters 20-25. Said plate members are preferably formed of sheet steel and will be rectangular in plan having preferred dimensions on the order of one-eighth inch in thickness, six feet in Width and two and one-half feet in height. Said plate members will be formed to be longitudinally arcuate.

The annular course 12 will be formed of plate members of which plate member 20 and fragments of adjacent plate members 21 and 22 are shown in FIG. 2. Said plate member 20 is shown having integral therewith a plurality of transverse longitudinally spaced stiffening ribs 28 overlying the outer surface thereof and being suitably secured thereto as by spot welding. The only difference in construction of the plate members of applicants silo structure lies in the number of stiffening ribs present in different ones of said plate members. The annular courses 12 and 13 are indicated comprising plate members having three stiffening ribs each. The annular course 14 is comprised of plate members having one stiffening rib each. In the lower annular course 15 the number of stiffening ribs present on each plate thereof has been increased to five, and in the upper courses, such as course 16, there are no stiffening ribs present in the plate members thereof. The number of ribs present on each plate bear relation to the load carried at each particular level in the silo structure. ber of ribs indicated at the different levels of the silo structure have been found to be sufficient in view of the plate members used to provide adequate stiffening or rigidity to the silo structure.

Said ribs 28 will be formed of a suitable gauge of steel and are indicated as being in the form of T members in cross section. The length of the ribs 28 will be somewhat less than the width of the plate member 20 leaving unobstructed marginal edge or strip portions 20a and 20b at the upper and lower edges thereof, as indicated in FIG. 2. Marginal edge portions 290 and 20d are also indicated at either end of said plate member.

The plate members 21 and 22 adjacent either end of said plate member 20 will have their ends 21d and 220 respectively abutting the adjacent ends 200 and 20d of said plate member 20.

The several plate members forming the annular course 12 will have their adjacent ends removably secured together by the transverse or vertical T bar or frame members 32 as with the plate members 20-22. Said T members 32 are of conventional design having base flange portions 32a. With reference to the abutting end portions 20d and 22c, the T members 32 overlies said abutting end portions overlying each of the adjacent end portions to the extent of one-half of its width. Underlying said flange 32a at the inner side of said plate members 20 and 22 is an inner reinforcing steel plate strip member 34. Disposed between the flange 32a and the outer surfaces of the edge portions 20d and 220 is a gasket or sealing strip 36 which has been found to be suitably formed of a plastic material, such as of neoprene. A similar sealing strip 37 is disposed between the plate member 34 and the inner surfaces of said edge portions 200. and 220.

Said flange 32a, said plate member 34 and the adjacent edge portions 20d and 22c will have horizontally spaced pairs of apertures vertically spaced to receive nutted bolts 38 to form a removably secure-d sealed vertical joint. Further, cup-type washers 39 are carried on said bolts underlying the head portions thereof. The heads of the bolts will be at the inner side of the silo structure as indicated in FIG. 4.

The num- At either end of said T member 32 is an offset forwardly projecting portion 32b forming a step, as indicated in FIG. 6, to overlie a flange portion of an adjacent T frame member as will be described. Except for identification of plate members, all other elements of identical structure will be indicated by like characters. All of the abutting vertical edge portions of the annular course 12 Will be joined and secured as described in connection with the adjacent edge portions 20d and 220. All of the other annular courses making up the applicants silo structure will be formed in like manner.

Next will be described the joining of superposed annular courses and more particularly the courses 12 and 13. It will be noted in FIG. 2 that said annular courses are aligned with one another to have the vertically joined edge portions of their respective plate members in a vertically staggered relation. It is thus seen that the plate members 23 and 24 of the annular course 13 have their abutting ends joined by the T frame member 32 at a point centrally longitudinally of the plate member 20 therebelow.

Extending along the longitudinal unobstructed edge portion 20a of said plate member 20 is a T bar or frame member 40 having a base or flange portion 40a. One-half of the width of said flange portion 40a overlies the edge portion 20a. The remaining width of said flange portion 40a overlies the adjacent edge portions 23b and 24b of the plate members 23 and 24 vertically aligned with said plate member 20. Underlying said flange portion 40a and overlying the adjecent edge portions thereunder is a gasket or sealing member 46. Said edge portions 23b, 24b and 20a and the flange portion 40a and the sealing member 46 therebetween in assembled condition have extending therethrough vertically spaced pairs of apertures horizontally spaced along said T frame member 40, and disposed through said apertures are nutted bolts 38 having cup Washers 39 forming sealing members under the heads of said bolts.

The step portion 32b of the T frame member 32 will overlie the adjacent flange portion 40a of the horizontal T frame member 40, and a pair of nutted bolts will be disposed through said overlyin-g portions to removably secure the same together.

It Will be noted that the longitudinal T frame members 40 in the embodiment here presented will have a length identical to that of the respective plate members. Abutting ends of the T frame members 40 with reference to the plate members 23, 24 and 25 have the upper portions of their flanges 46a secured by the overlying portions 32b of the related vertical frame members 32. The lower abutting portions of said flange portions 40a will be joined by a flat plate member 48 bolted thereto.

In like manner as above described, the applicants removably secure one annular course to another in superposed relation. In actual practice and as above indicated, the silo structure will initially comprise a roof structure overlying the uppermost annular course. This structure is elevated to position additional annular courses therebelow and said annular courses are successively added until a maximum height or a desired capacity has been attained. A suitable supporting base or foundation will be provided.

The assembly of applicants silo structure has been clearly described in connection with the description of the structural portions thereof. Substantial improvement is present in the applicants silo structure in the manner of assembling the component parts thereof whereby effective sealing members are made integral with each vertical or horizontal joint present either in connection with the plate members assembled to form an annular course or in assembling the annular courses in erecting the silo structure. The rib members in connection with the plate members provide substantial rigidity to form a solid structure.

Thus the applicants structure comprises parts which are readily assembled together with sealing members which result in a leak-proof silo structure that has proved to be unusually successful in preventing the entrance of any outside air through the wall structure thereof.

It will of course be understood that various changes may be made in the form, details, arrangement and prop-ortions of the parts, without departing from the scope of applicants invention which, generally stated, consists in a structure capable of carrying out the objects above set forth, in the parts and combinations of parts disclosed and defined in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A silo structure having in combination,

an annular course comprising arcuate plate members,

said plate members having abutting end portions,

vertically disposed T bar members having base flange portions overlying said abutting edge portions of said plate members,

a strip plate member underlying said abutting edge portions,

means securing said flange portions and said underlying strip plate members through said abutting edge portions,

a second annular course in abutting relationship with said first mentioned annular course, T bar members having base flange portions overlying the adjacent edge portions of said annular courses,

means securing said flange portions of said last mentioned T bar members to said last mentioned adjacent edge portions,

said first mentioned T bar members having outwardly offset step portions at their respective end portions, said step portions overlying adjacent flange portions of said last mentioned T b-ar members, and

means securing said step portions to the underlying flange portions of said second mentioned T bar members and to said underlying strip plate members.

2. The structure set forth in claim 1 wherein vertically disposed rib members overlie said plate members integral therewith to stiffen the same.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,096,218 5/ 1914 Berry 52--630 1,265,966 5/1918 Schlafly 52-245 2,107,240 2/ 1938 Eilertsen 54-474 X 2,114,960 4/1938 Beall 52-562 X 2,458,686 1/1949 Davie 52-630 X FOREIGN PATENTS 433,844 9/ 1926 Germany.

FRANK L. ABBOTT, Primary Examiner.

R. S. VERMUT, Assistant Examiner, 

1. A SILO STRUCTURE HAVING IN COMBINATION, AN ANNULAR COURSE COMPRISING ARCUATE PLATE MEMBERS, SAID PLATE MEMBERS HAVING ABUTTING END PORTIONS, VERTICALLY DISPOSED T BAR MEMBERS HAVING BASE FLANGE PORTIONS OVERLYING SAID ABUTTING EDGE PORTIONS OF SAID PLATE MEMBERS, A STRIP PLATE MEMBER UNDERLYING SAID ABUTTING EDGE PORTIONS, MEANS SECURING SAID FLANGE PORTIONS AND SAID UNDERLYING STRIP PLATE MEMBERS THROUGH SAID ABUTTING EDGE PORTIONS, A SECOND ANNULAR COURSE IN ABUTTING RELATIONSHIP WITH SAID FIRST MENTIONED ANNULAR COURSE, T BAR MEMBERS HAVING BASE FLANGE PORTIONS OVERLYING THE ADJACENT EDGE PORTIONS OF SAID ANNULAR COURSES, MEANS SECURING SAID FLANGE PORTIONS OF SAID LAST MENTIONED T BAR MEMBERS TO SAID LAST MENTIONED ADJACENT EDGE PORTIONS, SAID FIRST MENTIONED T BAR MEMBERS HAVING OUTWARDLY OFFSET STEP PORTIONS AT THEIR RESPECTIVE END PORTIONS, SAID STEP PORTIONS OVERLYING ADJACENT FLANGE PORTIONS OF SAID LAST MENTIONED T BAR MEMBERS, AND MEANS SECURING SAID STEP PORTIONS TO THE UNDERLYING FLANGE PORTIONS OF SAID SECOND MENTIONED T BAR MEMBERS AND TO SAID UNDERLYING STRIP PLATE MEMBERS. 